Ed Flanders
WALLY BURR (2003): "It was Alan Oppenheimer who convinced me of using Flanders in both G.I. Joe and Transformers. I first used him in some the G.I. Joe commercials and when we started casting for the G.I. Joe TV show, he was one of the various actors lined around the block. I never thought about using him for Transformers, but there was a particular scene in this multi-part episode in which a character travels through time and hears the voices of his ancestors telling the story of what happened. I tested some actors, and only one character remained. Then I remembered Flanders' narration at the beginning of 'The Ninth Configuration' and I thought, 'well, let's hope it works'. Flanders did two takes on that narrator character, number one was his normal voice, and it was fine, but then I suggested, give him a little bit more of a mystic sound and a British accent. He nailed it, and from that point on, I used him frequently on Transformers."
FRANK WELKER (2008): "I remember one particular stunt I pulled on Eddie in a recording session. He was very concentrated on his work, doing some weird gesticulations, and waving his hands like a mystical fighter. I decided to crouch and get behind him. I grabbed his knees and he fell backwards!!! Everyone in the booth, including Eddie, was laughing so much that we couldn't keep our cool. So Wally and the sound engineer, both of whom were unsuccesfully trying to contain their laughter, decided to take a brief break. I also remember Chris Latta and Eddie being quite close to each other. And even though Ed was a very timid guy, Chris called him "your shortness", to which Eddie replied with a very piercing, royal sounding voice, "My loyal subject!". Both of these guys had chemistry. He was also very close to Don Messick. Eddie was great, he was humble, easy-going and very intelligent. He would be the first to volunteer to replace anyone who wasn't available. I always thought that Ed could be the next Mel Blanc, and I even learned some new tricks with him. But he had this kinda strange melancholic look that made us wonder. He was one of these very talented guys who had a very hidden interior sadness, and it was quite devastating when I heard that he killed himself."
There were various actors that played characters in the Sunbow cartoon, yet they never recieved any credit. A very particular example that still baffles me is Ed Flanders. The talented shorty from Minnesota was very well known for playing various characters on-stage and on-camera. Yet, nobody ever noticed that he also had a very notable VO career (even I wouldn't have thought of it). The reasons for this was that his entire VO resume was never credited, and the characters he played never sounded like the Flanders we see on-screen. Unlike his straight acting on-screen, he would always create different voices for some of his characters, and they always sounded different to his normal voice. He would also be the first (and the last, most of the time) to replace any unavailable actor.
His G.I. Joe characters:
Airborne (The Synthoid Conspiracy)
Armadillo (1988 commercials)
Chuckles (1987 commercials)
Cobra Legions (A.V.A.C., Crimson Guard, Eels, Motor-Viper, Snow Serpent, Star-Viper, Strato-Viper, Techno-Viper, Tele-Vipers, Viper)
Destro (1983 commercials)
Enemy Leader (1982 commercials)
Flash (1983 commercials)
General Flagg (1982 commercials)
Ghostrider (1988 commercials)
Grunt (Regular Voice)
Hawk (1982-3 commercials)
Knockdown (1988 commercials)
Payload (1987 commercials)
Raptor (1987 commercials)
Recondo (Spell of the Siren)
Shockwave (1988 commercials)
Skidmark (1988 commercials)
Snake Eyes (grunts only)
Storm Shadow (Operation Mind Menace)
The Enemy (Troopers and Officers)
Thrasher (1986 commercials)
Wild Weasel (The Million Dollar Medic)
Zandar (1986 commercials)
Zanzibar (1987 commercials)
Zartan (1984-5 commercials)
His Transformers characters:
Abominus (Regular Voice)
Fortress Maximus
Getaway (1988 commercials)
Hardhead
Hun-Grrr (Money is Everything, robot voice)
Mindwipe
Scattershot (Regular Voice)
Scorponok
Sharkticons (The Return of Optimus Prime)
Starscream (1985 commercials)
Other notable characters that Flanders voiced are Harvey Lathrop (in The Greenhouse Effect), Stormavik (in The Invaders), Amun-Ra (in The Gods Below), a Quintesson (in The Return of Optimus Prime), The "Viper" (in The Viper is Coming), the Lanarqan Leader (in The Quintesson Journal), The Powerful Robot (in Five Faces of Darkness) and various aliens and Sweeps.
He also narrated some 1984-5 Transformers commercials when regular Transformers narrator Victor Caroli was unavailable.
After 1988, Flanders unexpectedly left the voiceover business. The possible reason for this was the accident he had in 1989, which left him with three broken vertebrae. He survived, but he started having frequent back pains, and his health started to deteriorate.
Sadly, Mr. Flanders committed suicide in 1995 at the age of 60.
FRANK WELKER (2008): "I remember one particular stunt I pulled on Eddie in a recording session. He was very concentrated on his work, doing some weird gesticulations, and waving his hands like a mystical fighter. I decided to crouch and get behind him. I grabbed his knees and he fell backwards!!! Everyone in the booth, including Eddie, was laughing so much that we couldn't keep our cool. So Wally and the sound engineer, both of whom were unsuccesfully trying to contain their laughter, decided to take a brief break. I also remember Chris Latta and Eddie being quite close to each other. And even though Ed was a very timid guy, Chris called him "your shortness", to which Eddie replied with a very piercing, royal sounding voice, "My loyal subject!". Both of these guys had chemistry. He was also very close to Don Messick. Eddie was great, he was humble, easy-going and very intelligent. He would be the first to volunteer to replace anyone who wasn't available. I always thought that Ed could be the next Mel Blanc, and I even learned some new tricks with him. But he had this kinda strange melancholic look that made us wonder. He was one of these very talented guys who had a very hidden interior sadness, and it was quite devastating when I heard that he killed himself."
There were various actors that played characters in the Sunbow cartoon, yet they never recieved any credit. A very particular example that still baffles me is Ed Flanders. The talented shorty from Minnesota was very well known for playing various characters on-stage and on-camera. Yet, nobody ever noticed that he also had a very notable VO career (even I wouldn't have thought of it). The reasons for this was that his entire VO resume was never credited, and the characters he played never sounded like the Flanders we see on-screen. Unlike his straight acting on-screen, he would always create different voices for some of his characters, and they always sounded different to his normal voice. He would also be the first (and the last, most of the time) to replace any unavailable actor.
His G.I. Joe characters:
Airborne (The Synthoid Conspiracy)
Armadillo (1988 commercials)
Chuckles (1987 commercials)
Cobra Legions (A.V.A.C., Crimson Guard, Eels, Motor-Viper, Snow Serpent, Star-Viper, Strato-Viper, Techno-Viper, Tele-Vipers, Viper)
Destro (1983 commercials)
Enemy Leader (1982 commercials)
Flash (1983 commercials)
General Flagg (1982 commercials)
Ghostrider (1988 commercials)
Grunt (Regular Voice)
Hawk (1982-3 commercials)
Knockdown (1988 commercials)
Payload (1987 commercials)
Raptor (1987 commercials)
Recondo (Spell of the Siren)
Shockwave (1988 commercials)
Skidmark (1988 commercials)
Snake Eyes (grunts only)
Storm Shadow (Operation Mind Menace)
The Enemy (Troopers and Officers)
Thrasher (1986 commercials)
Wild Weasel (The Million Dollar Medic)
Zandar (1986 commercials)
Zanzibar (1987 commercials)
Zartan (1984-5 commercials)
His Transformers characters:
Abominus (Regular Voice)
Fortress Maximus
Getaway (1988 commercials)
Hardhead
Hun-Grrr (Money is Everything, robot voice)
Mindwipe
Scattershot (Regular Voice)
Scorponok
Sharkticons (The Return of Optimus Prime)
Starscream (1985 commercials)
Other notable characters that Flanders voiced are Harvey Lathrop (in The Greenhouse Effect), Stormavik (in The Invaders), Amun-Ra (in The Gods Below), a Quintesson (in The Return of Optimus Prime), The "Viper" (in The Viper is Coming), the Lanarqan Leader (in The Quintesson Journal), The Powerful Robot (in Five Faces of Darkness) and various aliens and Sweeps.
He also narrated some 1984-5 Transformers commercials when regular Transformers narrator Victor Caroli was unavailable.
After 1988, Flanders unexpectedly left the voiceover business. The possible reason for this was the accident he had in 1989, which left him with three broken vertebrae. He survived, but he started having frequent back pains, and his health started to deteriorate.
Sadly, Mr. Flanders committed suicide in 1995 at the age of 60.